Music Review – Some Monastery

Some Monastery are the lo-fi indie rock project of young Brad Walker from Baltimore, MD. Apparently, this is Brad Walker’s 16th release under the Some Monastery moniker since 2001. This is my first listen to Some Monastery but on Welcome To The Symmetry Walker puts forth 10 songs of classic lo-fi indie rock that touches on notable bands like Sebadoh, Pavement and Modest Mouse. Most notably though these ten songs scream out a huge Sonic Youth influence. Even Walker admits that a revisit to Thurston Moore’s solo album, Psychic Hearts, spurned the noisier sound of Welcome To The Symmetry. Unfortunately, the album’s uniformity is also its downfall. While there are some gems here, the album’s songs have a hard time differentiating themselves from one another. All the songs are being created from the same palette and that is difficult for the album to overcome. There is really nothing to bring the listener back when Welcome To The Symmetry is over. That is especially the case if the listener knows the history of the bands that Walker is so influenced by. If you can not get enough of those discordant guitar-laced tales then you might welcome Some Monastery’s latest release with open arms. However, for most of us, we have heard these out of tune guitars many times before.